A Nightmare on Go Street
by Mr. Wizard
Summary: The end of the 'Lil Diablo' Plot causes a memory to return to a lost soul.


A Nightmare on Go Street

Kim Possible and related characters are the property of Walt Disney

A Nightmare on Go Street

The scream pierced the night. It rushed down the halls, flew down the stairs, slipped past doors. Even the neighbor's walls reverberated with the sound. Fortunately, the Carruthers were old and hard of hearing and the Stanislavs were out of town.

In the house itself, everyone who was asleep stirred into resentful wakefulness. Those already awake climbed out of bed to investigate. A woman walked down the hallway.

"Come on, Sis. Some of us have to go to school tomorrow."

"That's enough, Mike. I'll take care of this." The woman took a deep breath as she came to the door. She unconsciously smoothed the fabric beneath the bathrobe. Already slightly ajar, the door swung open to her touch.

A little girl pressed herself against the head board. Her pale face glistened with sweat. Green eyes bulged as she sat there trembling.

Magda Go walked over to sit beside her daughter on the bed. "What is it, honey?"

The girl buried her head into her mother's chest. She was hyperventilating. "They, they came back!"

"Who, Sasha?"

"M-Monters. Monsters in the closet!" Magda could feel the heat radiating from her little girl. "They were laughing at me."

"Laughing?"

"They were pointing fingers at me. They called me a three-time loser! They're gonna lock me away until I'm old and ugly and NOBODY WILL EVER LOVE ME!"

The last part caused Magda to start. _Why would a five- year- old worry about that? _"But you're not a loser, and you're so pretty. And you have a whole family who love you."

If Sasha heard her mother, she didn't answer. She just sat and shook in her mother's arms. Magda surpressed a sigh. These were not nightmares, but night terrors, and they appeared to be growing worse. She had talked with the counselor at school, and she had recommended they see a doctor. Jan could not bear the thought of his daughter in counseling or worse, on medication.

"There has to be something we can do." Jan muttered one night after he had finally gotten Sasha to fall asleep. The terrors were almost every night now, and both parents were showing the effects of their lack of sleep.

"I think I have an idea." Magda answered. "The next time I'll go in…"

_Time to try it. _Magda called out to the doorway. "G426784, where are you?"

A slight clank answered her. Jan stood in the hallway in his bathrobe, but wearing his belt and hat.

"Daddy?" Sasha whispered.

"Evening, little girl." Jan tromped in. "I hear there's a disturbance going on in here?"

"We have monsters in the closet, Officer." Magda nodded to the closet door.

"Monsters, eh?" Jan stepped over to the closet. He turned back to look at Sasha. "Do you have a complaint to lodge, miss?"

Sasha nodded eagerly.

"That's all I need." Officer Go pulled the flashlight out of his belt and opened the door. "All right, who's in here? Why, if it isn't the old gang…Halligan, Hooligan, and Hullabaloo. You used to bother Hank. Just won't stay away, will ya?"

Sasha giggled as her father noisily rooted through the closet. "Now don't try to hide, it's a closet! Ya know, ya didn't have to come back after Hank, but some monsters never learn. No, Hullabaloo, you can't just go now, a complaint's been lodged." She clapped as she heard the handcuffs ratchet.

Daddy stood up with the monsters buried under a pile of blankets. "I'm taking these guys downtown, miss. I think we've got all we need to put them away for a long, long time." He strode out the door and down the hallway to his daughter's applause.

Madga felt her jaw tighten. _It was my idea; will she even remember me being here? _Hank was his father's son, and Mike was already a past master of playing one parent off against the other, his own person. And the daughter she had so desperately wanted was also in her father's orbit. It had been that way ever since she had weaned herself at eight months. The jealousy made Madga angry, and not a little ashamed.

"Mommy?" A little voice pulled her back.

"Yes, honey?"

"Daddy was so brave, just like a knight."

Madga smiled. "Yes, he's my knight too."

Sasha hugged her mother, inhaling deeply. "You smell pretty."

"Thank you, honey. It's called Zanzibar."

"I hope I'm pretty like you when I get big." Soon the little girl was asleep.

Magda sat beside her daughter for a while. As she smoothed the hair away from the child's face she prayed. _Please, God, let that be the end of these dreams, and let her have her father's temper, not mine._

One prayer was answered.

NGS

"Turn to your left."

Shego followed the orders mechanically. The shock from the transmission tower was only just wearing off. She had only recently stopped casting sparks from her frazzled hair. The guards were beginning to relax; Shego would be no threat tonight.

"Turn to the front." When she did, one of the older guards stepped up.

"Wait a minute." She reached into a drawer and pulled out a brush wrapped in plastic. She opened it and stepped up to Shego. "I know you'd never forgive us for taking a shot of you looking like this." A few brushes and she stood back. "All right, take the shot."

They took her clothes, searched her, and put her in a holding cell. It was not just the jolt that had Shego so compliant. The light seemed off behind her eyes.

_It's over. How? How did she figure out Drakken's plan? I couldn't do it! And we had her right where we wanted her! The best plan I ever heard of, and look what happened. What's the use?_

She lay on the cot facing the wall. Lights were out, and shadows seemed to be stirring. Perhaps they had come to mock the three-time loser. For the first time in years she almost felt fear. Shego took a deep breath, and remembered the sound of her father walking into the room when she was a little girl, arresting the closet monsters. It was her earliest memory. The shadows pulled back.

"You better stay back." She grumbled. The sound of footsteps caused her to go quiet.

"So, you're gonna make your move tonight?" a guard asked excitedly.

"Yeah, he'll be waiting up for me. I think it's time. I'm ready, and I think he is too. It's just a matter of getting him to see. He'd be a great daddy."

"And you'd be a great mom. Can't see how he'd say 'no'. You've certainly got all the right tools to persuade him. I like the new perfume."

A scent wafted into the cell as the guards passed. Shego's nostrils widened as it drifted over the cot. Zanzibar. And it hit her, an old, old memory. So beautiful, just like an angel.

_Mom, you were there too. _

Since no one was there, Shego allowed herself a few tears. She had no idea what would happen now. Drakken was through, and she with him. Her brothers were in Go City, and even if they knew where she was, would they come? Mom and Daddy were gone. If Mom was right about what came next, she'd never see them again. If she was right, she'd never see them again.

_But they'll never see me afraid. I owe you two that much. _

The shadows stayed at bay. Shego drew the blanket up and fell into an exhausted sleep. Whatever else, she was not afraid. She could see them, Daddy tall, towering, invincible: her Mother, beautiful, her touch so soothing. A smile crept upon her face. She was not afraid.


End file.
